flipAgnolotti del plin
Agnolotti del plin
Why this dish? Agnolotti del plin, tiny hand-pinched ravioli, are the Sunday and holiday primo in Piedmontese families. For Levi, rooted in the Turin bourgeoisie, this patient dish embodies the family meal of peacetime, that orderly world of Turin he found again after the war.
Tiny egg pasta ravioli, filled with several roasted meats and a little greens, sealed one by one with a pinch (plin) of the thumb and index finger, served with roast juices or simply with butter and sage.
Let me tell you: making agnolotti is a matter of patience and fingers. We would roll out the egg dough until you could see the table through it, place the roast filling in small piles, and then came the plin — that pinch, that 'pinch' between thumb and index finger that seals each ravioli one by one. My grandmother wasted nothing: the filling was the meats from the day before, the roast and its juices, still tender. On Sundays, we ate them simply in their own juice, or sometimes — and that was the real treat — folded in a napkin, without sauce, to taste all their perfume.
- •Flour and fresh eggs — thin dough (wrapper)
- •Leftover roasted meats (veal, pork, rabbit) — a good amount of leftovers (filling)
- •Spinach or escarole — one bunch (greens for the filling)
- •Parmesan, egg, nutmeg — to taste (binder and flavor)
- •Roast juices or butter and sage — for dressing (seasoning)
Agnolotti del plin
Tiny egg pasta ravioli, filled with several roasted meats and a little greens, sealed one by one with a pinch (plin) of the thumb and index finger, served with roast juices or simply with butter and sage.
Why this dish? Agnolotti del plin, tiny hand-pinched ravioli, are the Sunday and holiday primo in Piedmontese families. For Levi, rooted in the Turin bourgeoisie, this patient dish embodies the family meal of peacetime, that orderly world of Turin he found again after the war.
Let me tell you: making agnolotti is a matter of patience and fingers. We would roll out the egg dough until you could see the table through it, place the roast filling in small piles, and then came the plin — that pinch, that 'pinch' between thumb and index finger that seals each ravioli one by one. My grandmother wasted nothing: the filling was the meats from the day before, the roast and its juices, still tender. On Sundays, we ate them simply in their own juice, or sometimes — and that was the real treat — folded in a napkin, without sauce, to taste all their perfume.
Ingredients (period version)
- Flour and fresh eggs — thin dough (wrapper)
- Leftover roasted meats (veal, pork, rabbit) — a good amount of leftovers (filling)
- Spinach or escarole — one bunch (greens for the filling)
- Parmesan, egg, nutmeg — to taste (binder and flavor)
- Roast juices or butter and sage — for dressing (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Type 00 flour — 300 g (dough)
- Eggs — 3 whole + 1 yolk (dough)
- Roast veal and pork — 300 g cooked, minced (filling)
- Spinach — 150 g, blanched and squeezed dry (greens)
- Grated Parmesan — 60 g (binder)
- Egg, nutmeg, salt — 1 egg + a pinch (binder and flavor)
- Butter and sage leaves — 60 g + about ten leaves (simple sauce)
Method
- Knead flour and eggs into a smooth dough; wrap in plastic and let rest 30 minutes.
- Finely blend the roasted meats with spinach, Parmesan, egg, salt, and nutmeg.
- Roll out the dough very thinly; place small piles of filling in a row on one strip.
- Fold the dough over and pinch (plin) between each pile, then cut with a pastry wheel.
- Cook 2-3 minutes in salted boiling water; season with melted butter and sage, or with roast juices.
How it was made : The agnolotto del plin was born from peasant and bourgeois economy: leftover roasted meats were recycled into the filling. The pinch closure, without a mold, allows for making tiny ravioli. A refined way to enjoy them, plin al tovagliolo, consists of serving them without sauce, folded in a napkin, to taste only the dough and filling.
The contemporary twist : Present a dozen agnolotti aligned on a slate with a line of reduced roast juices, in the style of a revisited 'plin al tovagliolo'.
Primo Levi · Charactorium
